Comfort
by Temari 88
Summary: - "I think I'd never really understood just how strong a Hokage must be until that moment…I started to feel my throat constrict,as I looked at the devastation the Akatsuki left..." - *taken from a prompt list over at Akki no Ai gaanaru community on LJ*


_Hello everyone! :D_

_Been a while that I've wanted to write something based off a prompt, so I took down a list of them and started with the first word. I could make this a collection or just upload a one-shot when I feel like it, I'll see._

_Alright, this is based shortly after the last chapters of the manga so there are some spoilers – they're not much but you've been warned… ^^_

_Naruto's POV!_

_Disclamer: I own nothing_

_Ja ne,  
__Temari 88_

* * *

**COMFORT**

_**by Temari 88**_

With all that had happened in such a small period of time, it took me the sight of my home being built back from scratch to bring back the memory of an immense crater standing were the houses had once been… I was away from here for barely more than a month – never during that time, I had thought back on what had greeted me when I returned from Myobokuzan… I was so focused on taking control of Kyuubi that everything else had been confined in a corner of my mind.

Until now.

Passing the place where the Gate used to be, greeting the guards standing there, I desperately tried to keep myself at bay – I couldn't let anything show on my face; I was everybody's hope, here… I couldn't afford to crumble because of some memories, not when the people we passed by smiled at me, waved at me… not when I could see them all working hard to piece back together their lives after the destruction that in so many ways was my fault. I kept a serene expression even if I was howling inside – I think I'd never really understood just _how_ strong a Hokage must be until that moment… I'll have to apologise to Baa-chan when I get the chance…

When we arrived at the simple building that made up the Hokage's Office, we were told that Tsunade-sama was discussing the details of the shinobi alliance with the Kazekage and that we were supposed to wait. I didn't want to stand there more than I needed to – I _couldn't_, not right then – so I walked past the secretary without paying her any attention and invaded the office without bothering to knock.

"What the—" started Baa-chan's angry voice, then she noticed me and stared at me for some time – almost _sensing _something was not quite right with me. "Naruto… what's the matter?" she had her hazel eyes narrowed, the true question hidden under her statement, but I ignored it instead putting on a smile.

"I'm back." I told her, my voice cracking the tiniest bit. Only then, I saw Gaara turning to face me and his eyes immediately zeroed on mine, looking at me without blinking even as Tsunade spoke again.

"I can see that." she spat out, annoyed. The stare the Kazekage was piercing me with did not go unnoticed but she said nothing on it – she was probably hoping I'd crack under the scrutiny… but I really had no intention of letting that happen, not in front of my Hokage at least. "… Do you have anything else to tell me? Because as you can see, the Kazekage and I were having a rather important discussion."

"Well… yes." I answered, turning my attention back to Baa-chan, while Gaara's teal eyes still had not left me. "You'll be happy to hear I've got full control now." she raised an eyebrow in confusion so I elaborated. "Of Kyuubi."

That sure got a reaction out of both 'Kages. Tsunade stood up from her chair with saucer-sized eyes, absolutely flabbergasted – the way her mouth opened and closed a few times would have made me laugh in another circumstance - while Gaara's eyes widened only a little (but he was good at hiding emotions) and I saw his hand twitch and lift from his lap… I knew he wanted to reach out at me but he stopped himself. "And I plan on fighting." I added, determined – I was _not _going to stand back when all my friends risked their lives… I was expecting Tsunade to oppose to my decision, instead everything she did was sigh and nod, probably aware that nothing would have made me change my mind.

"Good. I'll let you and Gaara finish your discussion then, sorry for the interruption." I turned my back to exit the small office when a hand on my wrist stopped me; I looked at the pale hand closed on my arm and then up into teal eyes, staring at me with a clear message etched in their depth. I smiled minutely at Gaara and nodded once, his gaze rested on me for a few seconds longer before he nodded back, let go of my wrist and sat down in front of Baa-chan again while I got out.

-x-

The night was quiet. Almost too much after all the noise I'd been hearing all day. Nights like these I would usually sit on top of my apartment building staring out at the village, but my apartment doesn't exist anymore so I was on my second 'secret' – and most favourite – place: the Hokage Mountain, the only thing that remained standing during Pein's attack. Thinking about it, it's ironic how I always found sitting on top of the Forth's head could calm me down when I felt upset… the fact the Yondaime was my father still left me unbelieving (as well as other things) – I hadn't said anything to anyone about that… I mean, Yamato-taichou, Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade were informed, but none of my friends knew.

Well, I guess it was just that I really hadn't had time to talk about much; with Konoha wiped out, Sasuke attacking the Kage meeting and killing Danzo, Madara declaring war, the shinobi alliance and my training to overpower Kyuubi… who would have thought of gathering the Konoha Twelve, stand up and say 'Hey! You know what, I'm the son of the greatest shinobi that ever lived! Yes, the Yondaime, who just so happen to be the one that sealed a huge, mean fur ball into me!'… yeah, that would've been such a great idea… I chuckled a bit as an image of me telling the others that showed up in my head.

"And here I thought I'd find you bawling your eyes out." I turned as Gaara sat down beside me, one leg almost touching mine while the other was left dangling over my father's stone brow. I appreciated the attempt at the joke – he still was not used to it; sarcasm was fine, jokes needed some more work – and went back to stare at the rebuilding village with a small smile. "… So, how are you?" he asked, his voice barely above whisper as he rarely raised his voice to begin with.

I contemplated the question, wanting to find a way to answer truthfully to the one person I trusted the most out of my friends. "I'm fine." there, honest even if there was a little more to it than that: I was feeling okay, physically… yet my emotions were in a bit of a whirlwind, different feelings mixing with each other making me want to cry one second, bang my head the next and laugh out loud the one after that. My answer was met with silence – I knew Gaara was thinking over my statement, twirling it over in his mind to uncover some hidden truth – for a quite long moment, but I didn't let my friend ponder over it because all of a sudden, I opened my mouth and blurted out a string of nonsense. "Y'know, I think my dad wouldn't be happy to see us sitting on his forehead…"

I felt more than heard Gaara's neck crack because of the lightning speed turn he did to stare at me, eyes so wide it was comical to see such an expression on him. Alright, maybe my blabbing _did_ have some sense… ooops, I wasn't really counting on telling him that this way—ah well, what's done's done. "Uh… yeah, apparently I'm the Yondaime's _precious_ son." I said, scratching my head. A minute more of silence and I was surprised at seeing the 'Kage grin.

"I guess I should have imagined it." he commented.

"Whaddja mean? Is it because I look like him…?"

"Well, yes but also…" he hesitated a bit before looking me straight in the eyes. "we have so much in common, Naruto, that I should have expected you were a Yondaime 'Kage's son too." he finished with a laugh.

I blinked a few times before it hit me, I laughed as well. "You're right! Geez, we're like twins – except that we look nothing alike…!"

We remained there, staring quietly at the wounded village beneath us, a light wind picking up as the night dragged on sluggishly. Counting the few buildings completely rebuilt, I realized once again that it would take months before everything went back to normality… most of the civilians were pretty much homeless, as a good number of the ninja; a lot between shinobi and kunoichi were injured and not fit to carry out complicated missions; the hospital – both the newly finished one and the camp one – were overwhelmed with patients… we were lucky Nagato decided to give up his life to bring back the ones that had died.

I heaved a deep sigh shifting my gaze far into the distance, past the edge of Konoha, to the forest surrounding the village – a good portion of the trees that once stood around the North wall had been wiped out, by me, leaving a huge void that would most likely never be covered in green again… near that, was another crater where the earth had been uplifted for Pein's _**ShinraTensei**_ and the rubbles and ruins lay all over in a two hundred meters radius.

I started to feel my throat constrict, a chocking sensation making its way up, as I continued to stare at the devastation Akatsuki had caused while coming after me. The guilt that had been licking at my insides all this time had come back to hunt me—a hand on my arm startled me out of my thoughts. Gaara had a worried look marring his pale face. "You shouldn't place all the guilt on yourself; Konoha fought to protect you just as fiercely as you did her… everybody knew what they were doing and they're all proud of you."

His words were a breath of fresh air, they dimmed the heavy feeling in my chest. I felt a weight lift from my shoulders as his fingers tightened momentarily around the arm. "… Thanks Gaara. No matter the situation, you always seem to know what to say…" he scoffed at that, mumbling about 'idiot council members trying to catch him off guard' and I cracked a smile at the sight of my irritated friend. Then I frowned as I remembered I had something very important to tell him, something I should have said a long time ago. "Gaara… I'm sorry…"

"What for…?" he tilted his head to the side – action that would have been replaced by a quirked eyebrow in anyone else.

"Well, for that time… after the Gokage meeting… when I snapped at you…" I looked down, ashamed, as I remembered the awful way I had treated Gaara. I could feel the green eyes on me.

He sighed before speaking. "… I won't say it was nothing, because you hurt me, but I understand the way you were feeling back then. I won't let a small thing such as that get between our friendship, Naruto."

I looked up, surprised and pleased, throwing my arms around Gaara and tackling him. His gasp told me I had taken him off guard so I grinned in victory, feeling suddenly back to my normal hyper self; when one of Gaara's hands came up to pat on my back, I failed to control my laugh and as I heard my friend calling me 'stupid idiot!' I did the only thing I could – I laughed harder, hoping everyone in the village understood that their very own ex-troublemaker was back.


End file.
